Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

This Bonkers 'Mueller Investigation By the Numbers' Video Trump Shared Has People Listing All the Numbers That the Video Leaves Out, and It's a Lot

This Bonkers 'Mueller Investigation By the Numbers' Video Trump Shared Has People Listing All the Numbers That the Video Leaves Out, and It's a Lot
Scott Olson/Getty Images // @realDonaldTrump/Twitter

Math is hard.

President Donald Trump shared a "Mueller Investigation by the Numbers" video listing "0 Collusion, 0 Obstruction" to his Twitter page.

The video also claims:


  • That the Mueller investigation cost taxpayers $30 million.
  • That the probe spawned "18 Angry Democrats."
  • That the probe took 675 days.
  • That Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued 2,500 subpoenas.
  • That the special counsel interviewed 500 witnesses.

Ignoring the president's jab at "18 Angry Democrats," we conducted a quick fact check.

Mueller's team has released three expenditures statements and says that a statement on expenditures from Oct. 1, 2018, through the end of the investigation will eventually be made public. Direct and indirect costs totaled $25.2 million through Sept. 30, 2018.

"On average, the office spent about $8.4 million per reporting period, which covered about six months. If the final statement tracks with that, total spending from the investigation would reach about $34 million," according to Politifact.

The probe took 675 days from the time it began in 2017 until Mueller submitted his report to the Department of Justice last month. The president's next figure is incorrect. The report itself states that "the Office issued more than 2,800 subpoenas under the auspices of a grand jury sitting in the District of Colombia." The probe did interview 500 witnesses "including almost 80 before a grand jury."

The president's critics replied with numbers of their own, taking him to task for his claim that there was "0 Collusion, 0 Obstruction."

The special counsel and his investigators found insufficient evidence to establish that either Trump or his campaign colluded with the Russians, but it doesn't explain why the president and his associates lied so much:

The President and White House aides initially advanced a pretextual reason to the press and the public for Comey’s termination … The initial reliance on a pretextual justification could support an inference that the President had concerns about providing the real reason for the firing, although the evidence does not resolve whether those concerns were personal, political, or both.

In Volume II of the Mueller report, the special counsel and his investigators examined 10 episodes of the president’s possible obstruction and made it clear that the investigation did not exonerate the president of wrongdoing:

“The evidence we obtained about the president’s actions and intent, presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment. At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

Mueller also concluded that Trump’s public comments could be considered obstruction because he weaponized his authority in attempts to discredit and shut down the probe:

“While it may be more difficult to establish that public-facing acts were motivated by a corrupt intent, the President’s power to influence actions, persons, and the events is enhanced by his unique ability to attract attention through use of mass communications. And no principle of law excludes public acts from the scope of obstruction statutes. If the likely effect of the acts is to intimidate witnesses or alter their testimony, the justice system’s integrity is equally threatened.”

The report cites “the series of events we investigated” that “involved discrete acts”––referring to attempts President Trump made to kill the investigation, such as when he terminated former FBI Director James Comey––ultimately concluding that “it is important to view the President’s pattern of conduct as a whole. That pattern sheds light on the nature of the President’s acts and the inferences that can be drawn about his intent.”

Trump’s “efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests,” the report says, but that doesn’t shield him from formal charges.

“The Constitution does not categorically and permanently immunize a president for obstructing justice,” Mueller wrote, adding:

“The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the president’s corrupt exercise of the powers of the office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) has requested a complete and unredacted copy of the Mueller report by May 1.

More from People

Andy Ogles; Bad Bunny
Heather Diehl/Getty Images; Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

MAGA Rep. Dragged After Claiming Bad Bunny's Halftime Show Depicted 'Gay Pornography'

Tennessee Republican Representative Andy Ogles was widely mocked after he claimed Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show was "pure smut" that depicted "gay pornography"—even going so far as to write a letter to the Energy and Commerce Committee demanding "a formal congressional inquiry" into the "indecent broadcast."

The rapper, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, delivered a largely Spanish-language show that has been hailed as a "love letter to Puerto Rico" and that drew from his latest album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year just a week ago.

Keep ReadingShow less
Chris Brown (left) and Bad Bunny (right) are pictured separately amid online backlash and praise following Bad Bunny’s record-breaking Super Bowl halftime performance.
Marc Piasecki/WireImage; Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Chris Brown Slammed After Appearing To Throw Bizarre Shade At Bad Bunny's Halftime Show

Bad Bunny’s record-breaking halftime show pulled in over 135 million viewers—fans, stans, casual watchers, and yes, professional haters who tune in just to be mad. Which brings me to the loudest one in the room: Chris Brown.

Brown took to social media to offer an unsolicited—and frankly bizarre—reaction to the Puerto Rico-inspired performance, posting a cryptic message that immediately rubbed people the wrong way.

Keep ReadingShow less
Todd Richards; Big Air Snowboarder Seungeun Yu
@btoddrichards/Instagram; Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images

NBC Broadcaster Speaks Out After He's Caught On Hot Mic Trashing Men's Snowboarding Competition At Olympics

Well, we've officially got our first hot mic oopsie of the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics!

Broadcaster Todd Richards took to Instagram Sunday to apologize for comments he made during the men's big air snowboarding event that he didn't realize were being broadcast.

Keep ReadingShow less
Amber Glenn; Donald Trump
Andy Cheung/Getty Images; Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Olympic Figure Skater Reveals 'Scary Amount' Of Threats She Got After Her Criticism Of Trump

Amber Glenn, the first openly queer woman to represent the U.S. in figure skating, spoke out in an Instagram post about the torrent of threats she's received after criticizing President Donald Trump's treatment of the LGBTQ+ community.

Glenn had voiced criticism of the Trump administration earlier in the week during a pre-Olympics press conference, describing the period as especially difficult for herself and others in the LGBTQ+ community. Her comments were among several political statements made by U.S. athletes in the run-up to the Winter Games in Milan, Italy.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rick Scott
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

MAGA Senator Slammed After Saying U.S. Olympians Critical Of Trump Should Be 'Stripped Of Their Olympic Uniform'

Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott was slammed after sharing a video criticizing U.S. Olympians who are conflicted about representing the United States amid President Donald Trump's controversial policies.

Scott spoke out after multiple Olympians made headlines for criticizing the Trump administration amid its nationwide immigration crackdown.

Keep ReadingShow less